October 24, 2011Austin’s New Home for the Bacon-Obsessed

Austinites place definite value upon the weird, the quirky and the campy. The city’s open-mindedness definitely makes it possible for the emergence of a restaurant that previously had not existed (which is quite the feat).

Chefs Tyler Johnson and Stephen Miles were oinking up the right tree when they chose Austin for a restaurant devoted to everyone’s favorite pork product, called Bacon, which leaves no mystery as to what their menu features.

They don’t experiment with bacon, per se, as much as they serve it fried at its best and often paired with the unlikely. The Bacon Waffle, for example, is exactly what the name says: two thick pieces of the bacon of your choice (I chose Ginger bacon for obvious reasons) cooked inside waffle batter for a pleasant combination of sweetness and saltiness.

Delicious Bacon Waffle

Breakfast fans rejoice, because at Bacon, breakfast is served all day. So, if the bacon waffle sounds great at 4 in the afternoon, treat yourself. Or maybe you’ll be more interested in breakfast BLT (eggs, lettuce, tomato and, of course, bacon), or biscuits and bacon gravy.

For those of you that are satisfied with one breakfast meal a day, or are just jonesing for something a little heartier (to your heart’s dismay), then their menu also features four tasty appetizers, three salads, burgers and sandwiches.

Other options include a bacon burger, which is beef and bacon ground together to create a very tasty and smokey treat that comes with the traditional toppings, plus cheese and more bacon if you so wish.

There are also some dishes that have chicken, which I was not able to try, but I overheard some very openly and publicly satisfied customers that had ordered the chicken and waffles (cheering was involved), making it a tempting option as well.

And don’t worry, vegetarians and vegans are welcomed as well, as there are bacon alternatives that are offered for every dish.

As much of a bacon enthusiast as I am, and as high as my expectations were for a restaurant devoted to one of my major food groups, I find the restaurant considerably over-rated.

They do bacon very well, which is good considering the whole restaurant revolves around it, but at such high prices it’s hardly worth it. My meal, consisting of one bacon waffle, a side of bacon fries (basically a loaded baked potato made with french fries), and a drink cost me just under $20 (which isn’t quite as bad as my friend that paid just as much as I did, only she got a burger, a cookie and a drink.)

As a college student, my budget does not allow me to eat that extravagantly often. I find this especially disappointing because the menu features many options I could find elsewhere for much less money. In all honesty, you’re paying for the ability to say that you ate in a restaurant that serves nothing but bacon, which is cool, but you’ll probably only do it once (unless you’re a bacon freak and must go enough times to try every type of bacon they have to offer…like I might).

My favorite dish: Bacon Fries

One cool thing about Bacon, however, is their participation in serving products that are locally grown and prepared in-house. And let me tell you, what an appropriate and well-designed house it is. The restaurant is situated in a seemingly re-purposed home that has a very southern, warm feel that makes me think that the pork on my plate was running around in a pen out back that morning.

There is also an exceptional attention to detail in the decorating of the restaurant, from the bacon-inspired art (my favorite is a pop-art style print of a slice of bacon) to the bacon door handles. It’s impossible to forget in what kind of establishment you are eating and why you’re there: to pig out.